Mike's Oud Forums

Sheet music for "Asfour"

sbiersdorf - 5-12-2015 at 08:14 AM

Hi everybody,

I'm in the process of learning the song "Asfour" by Marcel Khalife. My teacher heard it once a long time ago, so he doesn't have the sheet music; he listened to a sound clip of the song and dictated the notes to me in Arabic. I am not a musician, but I learned to read music when I took piano lessons as a child. I thought that a combination of listening to the song on repeat and looking at the sheet music might help me memorize it more quickly. If anyone has the sheet music, or a clip of themselves playing the song, and would be willing to pass it on to me, it would be much appreciated!
-Sam
slbiersdorf@gmail.com

ALAMI - 5-12-2015 at 09:48 AM

here you go.
a nice piece to be played softly.

sbiersdorf - 5-12-2015 at 11:50 AM

Thank you!!!!

sbiersdorf - 5-13-2015 at 12:20 AM

A follow-up on the same topic: reading music. I learned piano by reading sheet music as I went along; I'm learning oud as though I've never learned anything about reading sheet music. My teacher shows me the maqam, then teaches me a short song using the maqam, with the notes being dictated do, re, mi, fa, sol, and so on. How do A, B, C,... translate to the proper finger positions on the oud? I was thinking of finding a piano application, playing the notes on the sheet music, and writing down the proper finger position by ear, but if there's an easier way....

Brian Prunka - 5-13-2015 at 07:36 AM

I'm not sure I understand your question. C is do, D is re, etc.
Oud sounds an octave below where it is written, typically.

If your open strings from highest to lowest are Do, Sol, Re, La, then the Do is the third space on the staff, Sol is the second line on the staff, Re is the space below the staff and La is the second ledger line below the staff.

John Erlich - 5-13-2015 at 01:42 PM

Quote: Originally posted by sbiersdorf  
A follow-up on the same topic: reading music. I learned piano by reading sheet music as I went along; I'm learning oud as though I've never learned anything about reading sheet music. My teacher shows me the maqam, then teaches me a short song using the maqam, with the notes being dictated do, re, mi, fa, sol, and so on. How do A, B, C,... translate to the proper finger positions on the oud? I was thinking of finding a piano application, playing the notes on the sheet music, and writing down the proper finger position by ear, but if there's an easier way....

Are you asking how, on a fretless instrument like and oud or violin, how to know the correct position to finger notes? If so, make sure your instrument is well in tune, then use octaves to check your intonation, whenever there is an open string to match the note you are fingering. I have my oud student play chromatic runs on every string to practice intonation (i.e., start with small, simple steps before trying to play larger jumps and microtones with precise intonation). I ask her to pause from time to time and check her fingered note against an open string.